oil
Wonder and Warning Exhibit. View from atrium . Fireside Gallery at Art Gallery of Burlington. Burlington, ON
Bidding begins … NOW until April 14th, 2022. https://www.waddingtons.ca/auction/auction-for-ukraine-apr-14-2022/gallery/lot/107/
Please bid for this important cause! You will have the fun of bidding from the comfort of your home, the triumph of winning art at good value and helping those who need it in the Ukraine. Please bid here
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A Light in the Darkness. 12” x 12” oil painting on canvas ©Christine Montague Available through waddingtons.ca April 9 - 14, 2022. Auction to help The Canada-Ukraine Foundation. Please bid at https://www.waddingtons.ca/auction/auction-for-ukraine-apr-14-2022/gallery/lot/107/
In pandemic times , all my portrait commissions are from photos supplied to me from the client. Although I work directly from these photos, I always strive to make the portrait more than that image sent me, that the spirit and character of the subject shines through brighter.
Recently, I was commissioned to paint a portrait of a house as a surprise Christmas gift for the client’s spouse. The house was the spouse’s childhood home in the UK. The client wondered if there was a way to show that the spouse’s father, who had recently passed, was at home, and working in his second floor office.
I was moved by this thoughtful, loving idea of a portrait.
The reference photo (i.e. the photo I was to work from) was in focus. I could clearly see the shape and colour of the brickwork and roof.
But it taken on a very grey day, which subdued all colour and contrast. The windows and doorway were dark.
A garage and car that did not belong to the homeowners was predominant in the lower left of the photo. The planters were empty.
It was a snapshot of a house but not the story of the home.
So how to make the painting more than simply a copy of the photo supplied?
Portrait of a House ©Christine Montague 16” x 20” oil painting. House portrait from a supplied photograph
I have not lived near any of my family since my youth. I understand the emotion of returning home, what it is like to pull into the driveway of a well lit home, the knowledge of the people you love and who you know love you excitedly waiting inside.
So how to insert this emotion into the painting?
Plus also place emphasis on the centre window on the second floor which was the Father’s office?
The simple solution to bring attention to the study window was to make the scene a night painting, and “turn on” the light in the room.
I personally enjoy looking at night scenes paintings, but I was sensitive to the fact that the loss of the parent was too recent, and a dark scene , even in beautiful blues, could be perceived as too mournful.
But by creating a sunset painting , I could still the house with lights on.
A sunset painting is overflowing with the symbolism of beauty, life, reflection, the end of the day, and the promise of tomorrow.
What better sky for this portrait painting?!
Now that the scene was to be a sunset painting, I could introduce a new warm palette of pinks, gold, and mauve to the image. Warm colours are inviting, appealing and bring energy to an artwork.
The bricks of the house, although in a brown considered on the warm side, were actually glazed over in a cool blue as the front of the house was basically backlit and in shadow.
This contrast of warm sky and cool house front added dimension to the painting and added emphasis to the lit up window.
I used the brightest colours on the office window. The white was clean and bright and so was the yellow.
The bricks around the office window are lighter than elsewhere, the illusion light was escaping from the space.
On the left of the painting, I toned down the attached garage of the neighbour and and omitted their car.
I set the house a bit further back than it was in the photo so that the viewer could follow the path up to the house.
The other windows of the house reflect the sky and create a frame for the office window.
The darkness on the pathway rail takes the viewer’s eye to the hanging flowers on the right of the door and jump up the line of the darkest bricks up to the office windows.
And I think this portrait of a house fits these parameters. But much more importantly, the recipient did, too.
The British philosopher Sir Bernard Williams said “It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream”.
How true for us all. I am very grateful to the clients that they entrusted me with this poignant portrait .
Today's addition to the Polar Bear Art Advent Calendar is very late because we had a wonderful early Christmas celebration with the new little cub in our family! It seemed appropriate that a baby bear should be the art for today. (To see Fuzzball & The Poppies in its entirety & to learn its symbolism , please click here). I hope your December 22 is (was ) a good one!
Today's Polar Bear has a couple of titles - one of which We Are All In This Together. And whether climate change issues (what this was created for with its crown of Canadian provincial & territorial flowers ) or the pandemic, we most certainly are, aren't we? Enjoy your December 20th, may you be safe and well.
To learn more about this available 30” x 30” painting, please click here. Do you know I actually will consider any reasonable offer on larger art? Please contact me here
Today's Advent Calendar features the polar bear portrait from my painting In the Pink. Well, Christmas is just a week away and once again family get-togethers here in Ontario, Canada, are being limited due to the spread of the Omicron virus. So we're not quite "in the pink" here, but like this intelligent bear we're cautiously moving ahead. Enjoy your December 18th, and stay safe!
Learn more about In the Pink here
Inspired by the beautiful, intelligent polar bear that enjoys the solitude, wonder and beauty of its arctic night journey. The bear in this painting gives us a “look”. We know what we have to do, that inner strength, that fortitude, it’s there. The original oil painting is a 6" round canvas, a portal into the polar bear world, and round like our beautiful planet. It is attractively framed in a black, and is wired, ready to hang. To see or purchase the original artwork , please click Shop Original Art
This polar bear hopes you enjoy Tuesday, December 14th…. although I think if you were this close , well, I think this bear might enjoy its day, but you...?!?
Today’s polar bear art is created from Polar Bear Prayers, an original oil painting on a 6” diameter round canvas. To learn more about this painting, please click here.
To learn more about this artwork and see it in its entirety, please click Shop Original Art
I’m pleased to announce that my painting Hydrangea Blues has been awarded first prize in the Kefi Art Gallery “Summertime Memories” online juried fine art exhibit in a virtual gallery . I am honoured that a detail of the painting is is used on the invitation below. To read more about this summer artwork, please scroll down.
To see the complete painting , and enjoy a walk through a virtual gallery, please click Kefi Art Gallery (opens in a new window)
Invitation to Kefi Art Gallery Summertime Memories . This is a detail of Hydrangea Blues. Please scroll down to view the complete painting.
Hydrangea Blues is a 60" wide by 20" high oil painting on canvas.
My oil paintings of summer offer escape into days at the cottage or by the lake. They are about the promise of contented, quiet, and mindful moments alone, often before the day begins, or when it is done. They are about solitude without loneliness. They are meant to invoke memories and emotions - good ones - but will probably stir up longing for carefree days and warmer weather, too.
My scenic figurative artworks are mostly inspired by the Canadian locales I vacation at and am fond of, usually in Ontario. Hydrangea Blues, could be easily be in Ontario, and is meant to be universal in mood, but in truth, it is inspired by the beautiful blue hydrangeas that surrounded the century old cottage I stayed at in Chappaquiddick, Mass., USA.
In Hydrangea Blues, a young woman, a girl really, sits in the shade of the cottage. She is lost in thought, her feet resting on the cool flagstone path. She is probably relieved to not only be out of the heat, but to be away from parents and siblings. Whether she misses her friends or her phone, we don’t know. Her thoughts are hidden, as she almost is, amongst the gentle blue hydrangeas.
This painting is one of the most ambitious artworks I have created. A lot of intricate work went into making sure the overlapping leaves and flowers took the eye up and around the figure, across the canvas, then down to zig zag along the path and up the legs and arms to the subject’s face. The brush strokes in her hair point to a branch in the bush, and so our trip around the canvas begins again.
Like most of the world, I love the colour blue, and enjoy using it in my art. It is a popular colour because we equate it to nature , especially sky and water.
It actually makes one feel good to look at a blue painting, and this one is no different. All those beautiful blue flowers, set amongst the fresh green of the leaves, were a joy to paint as well as to look upon.
This painting is created in a slightly more graphic style than what I usually use. There is a lot of an outline to the shapes and the colours are more selective. But I feel this works as there is a brightness and youthfulness in this, that suits both the young model and the subject matter.
Hydrangea Blues. ©Christine Montague 20” x 60” x 1.5” oil painting on canvas.
Do you know that almost all of the portrait commissions I receive are commissioned as a surprise gifts for a loved one? This recent portrait of two adorable Yorkshire Terriers in their hand knit sweaters was no different!
Earlier this year, I was contacted via email to about painting the portraits. The client emailed me the photos. As, the dogs were not together in the photos, I sent back some simple sketches of how the dogs could be painted on separate canvases or together in a composite. The client liked them together, and I quite agreed.
It was a pleasure to paint these little dogs, so full of personality. And painting that little pink tongue and co-ordinating sweater was priceless.
Oh, and about paintings commissioned as a surprise - I personally love to be the recipient of a thoughtful , heart felt surprise, and in no way would I ever want to deprive someone of that lovely moment. This is why, in this age of share everything on social media, you never see my portraits online as works in progress, etc. It is only after I am sure that the recipient has it and loves it, that I may post the portrait. .
If you are interested in a portrait from a photo, please feel free to contact me. OR to read how to commisson a portrait, sizes, prices and examples click here. Portraits can be of people, pets, objects, places, homes, and of course, polar bears! I ship worldwide.
A miniature portrait of a big bear in bright light, but his mood? Maybe not so sunny. The light reflects nicely on those big teeth, don't you think? This portrait may be little, but the might of this highly intelligent polar bear, top arctic predator, is still evident!
Oil painting on 8" x 8"x 1.5" Canvas
$200 CAD. Free shipping to Canada and USA.
To purchase-
A powerful looking polar bear is portrayed against the setting sun, and the sea. The darkness of the winter is retreating, as is the sea ice, so important for the polar bear's survival.
As the sun sets, its glory is reflected in what remains of the sea ice and off the polar bear's translucent fur.
We can reflect, too. What will we loose under the threat of climate change? A setting sun offers hope with a new day ahead, but it also symbolizes the end of a story. Do we want a happy one? .
24" x 24' x 1.5" Painting continues around edges. Wired ready to hang. Certificate of Authenticity supplied.
$1000 CAD. Free shipping to Canada. Shipping is available worldwide. Contact me here
Into the Sunset 1 © Christine Montague ChristineMontague.com
Triplets. Hung horizontally. ©Christine Montague Oil painting. 20” x 30”
Triplets hung vertically. 30”h x 20”w ©Christine Montague
The painting below has the perfect title - Looking Back, Moving Forward - for New Year's Eve. New Year’s Eve is all about saying goodbye to what has been a heck of a year, and saying hello with great anticipation, to the new one.
Looking Back, Moving Forward tells a story about a polar bear in the spring (the next thing we can look forward to). The arctic night has ended, dramatic sunsets make their reappearance , the sea ice is breaking up, and the polar bear returns to the tundra. As the day draws to an end, the sun’s glory is reflected off the open water, the remaining ice, and the polar bear's translucent fur - sea, ice and polar bear connected by its light, colour and warmth.
In the movies, setting off into the sunset symbolizes a happy ending, but it is also the promise of a new day ahead.
Looking Back, Moving Forward is a 24" x 24" x 1.5" oil painting ©Christine Montague . It is available.
Polar Bear Life Preserver ©Christine Montague
Detail Rising in the Moonlight. Please scroll down to see the complete painting with ut text.
Here is the last of the special offers ( valid until December 31st, 2020 $130 CAD includes shipping to USA & Canada.
In this portrait oil painting, a polar bear, spotlit by the moon, rises up from beneath the surface of the dark arctic sea.
Polar Bear Rising in the Moon Light. ©Christine Montague Until Dec 31, 2020. $130 CAD includes shipping to Canada or USA.
10” x 8” x .75 " oil paint on wood panel. It is signed by the artist. It is wired and ready for hanging.